US may need extra $65bn for next year's $525bn Iraq effort

The White House said it may need up to $US50 billion ($A65.7 billion) in extra funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan next year -- on top of the $US400 billion ($A525 billion) military budget it sent to Congress today.

The request could throw off President George W Bush's deficit reduction goals.

His fiscal 2005 budget calls for cutting this year's record $US521 billion ($A684 billion) deficit down to $US364 billion ($A478 billion) in 2005, and Bush told reporters he is confident the reductions will be met.

But White House budget director Joshua Bolten acknowledged that these projections do not include spending for ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pressed to estimate the cost for fiscal 2005, Bolten cited current projections for military outlays in 2004 of "well below" $US50 billion ($A65.7 billion).

"You should regard that as kind of the upper limit of what might be needed in '05," Bolten said. "Hopefully, the needs will be less. But it will all depend entirely on the security situation."

The White House has publicly ruled out sending a new Iraq spending request to Congress before January 2005, after the US presidential election.

Bolten defended the administration's decision not to include the additional spending in Bush's budget for fiscal 2005, which begins on October 1, 2004, citing "the uncertainty of the security situation".

Representative John Spratt of South Carolina, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, criticised Bush for omitting Iraq-related expenses and others.

"Once administration initiatives like additional costs for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Social Security privatisation, and space travel to Mars are included, these record deficits in the Bush budget climb even higher," he warned.

Bush won approval from Congress last year for two war supplementals -- one for $US79 billion ($A104 billion) and another for $US87.5 billion ($A115 billion) for military operations, homeland security and reconstruction efforts in Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The wartime spending drew fire from Bush's Democratic challengers in the November election, and analysts say the $US87.5 billion request contributed to an erosion in Bush's approval ratings in some polls.